Staten Island Advance/Anthony DePrimoA rider on the S78 bus moves past the driver without paying the fare. More than 18 percent of passengers on Staten Island buses are fare beaters, according to an Advance survey.

"We have added a transit component to our Operation
Impact program. Officers throughout the
city assigned to Impact are conducting regular checks of city buses during
their tours. This increased uniformed police presence on buses has resulted in
additional fare evasion arrests and we believe deters other crimes in
transit," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced today.

In
addition to uniformed officers, the NYPD has been using undercover officers on
Metropolitan Transportation Authority buses on the Island to target fare
beaters since earlier this spring.

In a May story, the Advance found that after days of
observation on city buses here, 18 percent of passengers weren't paying. Many
bus drivers and passengers interviewed at the time said they thought the figure
was conservative.

While it may seem like a small crime, fare evasion equals big bucks. Citywide in 2011, there were 665,314,040 paying customers who rode the bus. The Advance's findings suggest the MTA could be losing about $328 million in annual revenue to fare evaders.

The MTA originally refused to furnish its estimates of losses through fare evasion to the Advance, but later disputed the Advance's findings, saying loses were closer to $40 million -- still not pocket change.

Kelly isn't alone in his assertion that arresting fare-beaters stems other crime. Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan told the Advance earlier this month said that when former Mayor Rudy Giuliani was in office and the NYPD began arresting turnstile jumpers, they found those people often had other open warrants or criminal records.

"We are finding the same circumstances exist when police arrest fare beaters on Staten Island buses. It's Broken Windows Theory 101: If you fix the problems when they are small, or show little tolerance for low-level, quality-of-life crimes, you will prevent or solve the more serious crimes," Donovan said.